CROFT AMBREY, AYMESTREY ... - English Heritage

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'extension' they cut the corner taking a shallower route and leaving a triangular piece of what appears to be old ground surface as a berm. The easternmost 100m of external bank, ditch and counterscarp differs in form slightly, as though a process of modification was left uncompleted. It is perhaps worth noting that in this respect it mirrors the outer enclosure earthwork at this point where no bank or ditch was constructed. The outer bank is raised by some 2.5m and is slightly wider than it is further west. No counterscarp is present at this point. Instead, a scarp of sharper profile leads down from the edge of the berm to a shallow, evidently uncompleted, ditch at the base. At one point, c40m from the eastern end, a platform-like feature 15m across and 8m wide interrupts the course of the ditch (Fig 8 m). The entrance through the earthworks in the south-west is undoubtedly part of the build (Fig 6 e). Here a 6m wide terraced approach is well defined alongside the edge of the escarpment and the route is channeled via a causeway through ditch and bank terminals which turn slightly inwards in partial response to the proximity of the escarpment edge. The south-east component of the inner bank changes course more markedly in order to overlap its north-west counterpart. The access passage here is restricted to no more than 3m in width. At the east end, the inner bank turns abruptly northwards to meet the escarpment edge where, club-like, it expands and then turns eastwards (Fig 10 a). A hollowing, or lowering of the bank, 8m short of the escarpment edge, signals the position of an entrance (Fig 10 b) and the position is accentuated by the inner ditch and outer bank, which have terminals here along with the shallow outer ditch that fades out. However, any entrance marked by these features is not engraved to the level of, or below, the ground surface as is the case at the south-west entrance. Instead, mounding up of material to a height of 1m within the passage way appears to indicate that it may have been blocked. Although interrupted, the bank continues eastwards alongside the crest of the escarpment for 25m at a less prominent level and subsequently for 30m as a single scarp helping to define the course of the entrance (Fig 10 d). A hollow way approaches from the east (Fig 6) and cuts across the route of the outer enclosure boundary at a point where it would ©ENGLISH HERITAGE 41 36-2008
meet the escarpment, then continues as a shallow but relatively broad feature up to 9m across and 0.3m deep, bounded to the south by a bank 7m wide and 0.7m high. However, its course is blocked by a 9m wide and 2m high bank placed perpendicular to the escarpment that forces movement southwards (Fig 10 e), only to describe a further right angled junction in order to complete the prescribed route into the enclosure. The final, 0.7m deep, hollowed approach (Fig 10 f), is cut into the natural rock leaving a 2m high terrace on the north and a 0.7m high bank to the south and continues for 70m before being channelled into the entrance passage (Fig 11). Figure 10 Inset 3. Earthworks at the east entrance. North to top. Many of the apparently embanked features at the eastern end of the enclosure may be cut into rock outcrop rather than built. This is demonstrated on the escarpment side of the bank that extends from the entrance (Fig 10 c), where a cut through it has revealed stratified limestone (Fig 12) and it may be that a natural outcrop here was responsible for the unusual entrance. Stanford identified a west entrance leading into the interior of the 'plateau'. The hollow ©ENGLISH HERITAGE 42 36-2008
Page 1 and 2: RESEARCH DEPARTMENT REPORT SERIES n
Page 4 and 5: SUMMARY Analytical survey and inves
Page 6 and 7: CONTENTS 1. Introduction 1 2. Topog
Page 8 and 9: 25. Photograph of earthwork feature
Page 10 and 11: INTRODUCTION Having visited Herefor
Page 12 and 13: Figure 1 Anthills in the interior o
Page 14 and 15: Figure 2 Location map. Croft Ambrey
Page 16 and 17: TOPOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY AND DRAINAGE Th
Page 18 and 19: engraved hollow way leading to it f
Page 20 and 21: avine……the Aymestrey rock….di
Page 22 and 23: LANDSCAPE HISTORY Early description
Page 24 and 25: Despite its distance from the major
Page 26 and 27: obtained a lease of the lands from
Page 28 and 29: Figure 4 New map of Herefordshire b
Page 30 and 31: park' (Anon 1960), while other aven
Page 32 and 33: shows a footpath leading to a break
Page 34 and 35: quarry ditch as 'canal-like'. The R
Page 36 and 37: Excavations at the south-west entra
Page 38 and 39: Stanford observed that there was mo
Page 40 and 41: contrast, having targeted the mound
Page 42 and 43: sweep of a bivallate bank and ditch
Page 44 and 45: way situated opposite a group of bu
Page 46 and 47: This latter is the central of three
Page 48 and 49: the circuit. The enclosed area is l
Page 52 and 53: way leading to this and into the in
Page 54 and 55: A fourth, upper terrace can also be
Page 56 and 57: Westwards, several substantial cres
Page 58 and 59: DISCUSSION Stanford (1974, 17-25) p
Page 60 and 61: also for example, a feature of caus
Page 62 and 63: along its length. It is worth consi
Page 64 and 65: a clean, level floor of limestone b
Page 66 and 67: of the boundary earthwork was expla
Page 68 and 69: for wheeled vehicles to negotiate.
Page 70 and 71: site from elsewhere. This also occu
Page 72 and 73: The earthwork survey reveals that f
Page 74 and 75: Some of the smaller discontinuous p
Page 76 and 77: case of Danebury, where a large num
Page 78 and 79: While acknowledgement of the presen
Page 80 and 81: vertical escarpment. Nevertheless a
Page 82 and 83: The symbolic importance of such nat
Page 84 and 85: * * * The sharp profile, form and r
Page 86 and 87: that the 'cross-banks' (Fig 13 d) o
Page 88 and 89: Figure 26 Interpretation plot showi
Page 90 and 91: primarily for deer management purpo
Page 92 and 93: CONCLUSIONS As one of the few exten
Page 94 and 95: REFERENCES Anon 1852 'Aymestrey' Tr
Page 96 and 97: London: F Cass Ellison, A and Drewe
Page 98 and 99: Naturalists Field Club 39, 31-39 Ta
Page 100 and 101:
Figure 29 Numbered parkland trees.
Page 102 and 103:
Unnumbered 2.3m NW fence line Unnum
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CROFT AMBREY, AYMESTREY ... - English Heritage

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